"I couldn't believe it. Like I said, I was excited when I saw a hundred people," she said.

"The more I heard the negativity, I was thinking they are going to take it away from us. This is not where it's going to be and that was heartbreaking. I thought a beautiful thing is going to be taken away."

The Never Forgotten National Memorial Foundation, which proposed the monument, intends to raise $25 million for the project through corporate and private donations.